In Credit Alliance Corp. v. Andersen & Co. (65 NY2d 536, 551 [1985]), the Court of Appeals specified prerequisites that must be satisfied in order to extend accountants' liability outside the sphere of privity: "(1) the accountants must have been aware that the financial reports were to be used for a particular purpose or purposes; (2) in the furtherance of which a known party or parties was intended to rely; and (3) there must have been some conduct on the part of the accountants linking them to that party or parties, which evinces the accountants' understanding of that party or parties' reliance. While these criteria permit some flexibility in the application of the doctrine of privity to accountants' liability, they do not represent a departure from the principles articulated in Ultramares Corp. v. Touche, 255 NY 170, 174 NE 441 (1931), Glanzer v. Shepard, 233 NY 236, 135 NE 275 (1922), and White v. Guarente, 43 NY2d 356, 372 NE2d 315, 401 NYS2d 474 (1977), but, rather, they are intended to preserve the wisdom and policy set forth therein."